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Month: October 2017

Investor Stories 70: What’s Next (Einstein, Galston & Larkins, Cowan)

by Nick Moran

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

-Ben Einstein -Ezra Galston & Stuart Larkins -David Cowan

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

 

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter  for updates and more information.

Investor Stories 70: What’s Next (Einstein, Galston & Larkins, Cowan)

by Nick Moran

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

-Ben Einstein -Ezra Galston & Stuart Larkins -David Cowan

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

 

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter  for updates and more information.

144. The 8 Startup Profiles & Those that Make the Strongest Investments (Guy Turner)

by Nick Moran

Guy Turner of Hyde Park Venture Partners joins Nick to cover founder profiles and the characteristics that lead to the strongest startups. We address questions including:

  • You've observed over 50 startups, across your portfolio, and have written extensively about founder profiles. What are the two high-level categories of characteristics that you've observed?
  • Within the inspection characteristics category... what are the three dimensions that matter most?
  • The first two modes seem to differ primarily on the experience dimension... what are the two modes and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • Mode 3 you call the exec turned founder.... and mode 4 seems to have the ingredients for big outcomes or big flameouts. Walk us through each of these and their defining characteristics.
  • We've discussed four modes, but based on your framework there should be eight. What about the other four modes?
  • Do you think modes 1 and 2 work better for all investors or just HPVP?
  • Dealflow filtering and evaluation... can you use the inspection characteristics?
  • So we've discussed the inspection characteristics... let's transition to the the second major category, the experience characteristics. Talk more about what they are and how you assess them.
  • What are the five actions that matter most in startup teams?
  • How do you handle a situation where the deal comes late and there's already a term sheet and you don't have time to observe these characteristics over time?
  • What are the five styles that matter most?
  • Self-reflection, do you and Ira and Tim look in the (Read more...)

144. The 8 Startup Profiles & Those that Make the Strongest Investments (Guy Turner)

by Nick Moran

Guy Turner of Hyde Park Venture Partners joins Nick to cover founder profiles and the characteristics that lead to the strongest startups. We address questions including:

  • You've observed over 50 startups, across your portfolio, and have written extensively about founder profiles. What are the two high-level categories of characteristics that you've observed?
  • Within the inspection characteristics category... what are the three dimensions that matter most?
  • The first two modes seem to differ primarily on the experience dimension... what are the two modes and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • Mode 3 you call the exec turned founder.... and mode 4 seems to have the ingredients for big outcomes or big flameouts. Walk us through each of these and their defining characteristics.
  • We've discussed four modes, but based on your framework there should be eight. What about the other four modes?
  • Do you think modes 1 and 2 work better for all investors or just HPVP?
  • Dealflow filtering and evaluation... can you use the inspection characteristics?
  • So we've discussed the inspection characteristics... let's transition to the the second major category, the experience characteristics. Talk more about what they are and how you assess them.
  • What are the five actions that matter most in startup teams?
  • How do you handle a situation where the deal comes late and there's already a term sheet and you don't have time to observe these characteristics over time?
  • What are the five styles that matter most?
  • Self-reflection, do you and Ira and Tim look in the (Read more...)

144. The 8 Startup Profiles & Those that Make the Strongest Investments (Guy Turner)

by Nick Moran

 

Guy Turner of Hyde Park Venture Partners joins Nick to cover founder profiles and the characteristics that lead to the strongest startups. We address questions including:

  • You've observed over 50 startups, across your portfolio, and have written extensively about founder profiles. What are the two high-level categories of characteristics that you've observed?
  • Within the inspection characteristics category... what are the three dimensions that matter most?
  • The first two modes seem to differ primarily on the experience dimension... what are the two modes and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • Mode 3 you call the exec turned founder.... and mode 4 seems to have the ingredients for big outcomes or big flameouts. Walk us through each of these and their defining characteristics.
  • We've discussed four modes, but based on your framework there should be eight. What about the other four modes?
  • Do you think modes 1 and 2 work better for all investors or just HPVP?
  • Dealflow filtering and evaluation... can you use the inspection characteristics?
  • So we've discussed the inspection characteristics... let's transition to the the second major category, the experience characteristics. Talk more about what they are and how you assess them.
  • What are the five actions that matter most in startup teams?
  • How do you handle a situation where the deal comes late and there's already a term sheet and you don't have time to observe these characteristics over time?
  • What are the five styles that matter most?
  • Self-reflection, do you and Ira and Tim look in (Read more...)

144. The 8 Startup Profiles & Those that Make the Strongest Investments (Guy Turner)

by Nick Moran

 

Guy Turner of Hyde Park Venture Partners joins Nick to cover founder profiles and the characteristics that lead to the strongest startups. We address questions including:

  • You've observed over 50 startups, across your portfolio, and have written extensively about founder profiles. What are the two high-level categories of characteristics that you've observed?
  • Within the inspection characteristics category... what are the three dimensions that matter most?
  • The first two modes seem to differ primarily on the experience dimension... what are the two modes and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • Mode 3 you call the exec turned founder.... and mode 4 seems to have the ingredients for big outcomes or big flameouts. Walk us through each of these and their defining characteristics.
  • We've discussed four modes, but based on your framework there should be eight. What about the other four modes?
  • Do you think modes 1 and 2 work better for all investors or just HPVP?
  • Dealflow filtering and evaluation... can you use the inspection characteristics?
  • So we've discussed the inspection characteristics... let's transition to the the second major category, the experience characteristics. Talk more about what they are and how you assess them.
  • What are the five actions that matter most in startup teams?
  • How do you handle a situation where the deal comes late and there's already a term sheet and you don't have time to observe these characteristics over time?
  • What are the five styles that matter most?
  • Self-reflection, do you and Ira and Tim look in (Read more...)

143. Beacon: Modernizing the VC Firm, Part 2 (Chris Farmer)

by Nick Moran

Today we publish part two of the interview with Chris Farmer of Signal Fire Ventures. In this segment we address:

  • Why he's using Beacon to make VC investments when their are numerous other applications that may have more economic value
  • How he's created an engaged, active advisor network that are also LPs in the fund
  • What characteristics the best advisors share
  • Chris' thoughts on the surge in micros VCs and how that has impacted the asset class
  • Chris' advice for founders raising initial capital
  • Wrap-up of Key Takeaways & a Tip of the Week

Guest Links:

Key Takeaways:

1- Deconstructing Beacon   Beacon is a connected platform that starts w/ sourcing but also does monitoring, context, diligence, syndication and most importanty, per Chris, portfolio support.  It's a data platform that looks like a Bloomberg terminal for the startup industry.  They started building it seven years ago and they employ a full-blown engineering team of data scientists and tech engineers.  Beacon tracks a vast array of data on 6M different companies.  And Chris started with first principles, asking "what are the KPIs that the management teams of these companies are measuring?"... those are the same elements we should measure with Beacon.  It analyzes items including customer behavior, frequency, engagement, CLV, consumer transactions, financial flows, quality of those flows, news sentiment and also (Read more...)

143. Beacon: Modernizing the VC Firm, Part 2 (Chris Farmer)

by Nick Moran

Today we publish part two of the interview with Chris Farmer of Signal Fire Ventures. In this segment we address:

  • Why he's using Beacon to make VC investments when their are numerous other applications that may have more economic value
  • How he's created an engaged, active advisor network that are also LPs in the fund
  • What characteristics the best advisors share
  • Chris' thoughts on the surge in micros VCs and how that has impacted the asset class
  • Chris' advice for founders raising initial capital
  • Wrap-up of Key Takeaways & a Tip of the Week

Guest Links:

Key Takeaways:

1- Deconstructing Beacon   Beacon is a connected platform that starts w/ sourcing but also does monitoring, context, diligence, syndication and most importanty, per Chris, portfolio support.  It's a data platform that looks like a Bloomberg terminal for the startup industry.  They started building it seven years ago and they employ a full-blown engineering team of data scientists and tech engineers.  Beacon tracks a vast array of data on 6M different companies.  And Chris started with first principles, asking "what are the KPIs that the management teams of these companies are measuring?"... those are the same elements we should measure with Beacon.  It analyzes items including customer behavior, frequency, engagement, CLV, consumer transactions, financial flows, quality of those flows, news sentiment and also (Read more...)